World Congress of Tatars urges Crimean people to stop unrest

February 27, 2014, 20:34 UTC+3KAZANChairman of the Executive Committee of the World Congress of Tatars said neighborly relations with Russians and Ukrainians were fundamental to the well-being of the Crimean Tatars

KAZAN, February 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Chairman of the Executive Committee of the World Congress of Tatars (WCT), Rinat Zakirov, has read out a statement of the WCT Executive Committee on the situation in Ukraine.

“We cannot remain indifferent to the destiny of our brothers by blood - Crimean Tatars,” he said on Thursday. “We all know their tragic fate. After many trials they had to go through, they returned to their native land and began to settle down. But all this can break off if the political radicalism, instilled by the ‘Kiev Maidan’ in the interests of some political groups, will move to the Crimea.”

Zakirov said the WCT Executive Committee called on all people of the Crimea to exercise prudence and to stop unrest. He noted that neighborly relations with Russians and Ukrainians were fundamental to the well-being of the Crimean Tatars.

“We see Crimea’s future based on the Constitution and laws of the Crimean Autonomous Republic and taking into account the interests of its multinational population,” he said.

Zakirov was to leave for the Crimea on Thursday with a group of deputies from the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan. He told Itar-Tass members of the Tatarstan delegation would meet the Crimean parliament deputies and leaders of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People tomorrow.

“We want to propose specific measures to settle interethnic differences,” he said, adding that the delegation members knew about the difficult situation in the Crimea.

“Therefore, we do not have any certain programme of stay on the peninsula.The date of our return to Tatarstan has not yet been fixed either,” he said.

The World Congress of Tatars is an international union of public associations formed for the protection of cultural and national interests of the Tatar people in their regions of residence. The Congress includes four national and cultural organisations of Tatars, located in the territory of the Crimea, a WCT spokesman told Itar-Tass.